This invention relates to apparatus and methods for packaging and distributing combinations of complementary containers.
It is well known that consumers frequently associate certain snack foods and beverages with one another, and that consumers frequently consume snack foods and beverages in combination. For example, consumers might be inclined to eat peanuts when drinking beer, or to eat popcorn when drinking soda. To capitalize on this, the food and beverage industry has attempted to increase sales of both snack foods and beverages by tying sales of certain beverages to sales of snack food products that are often associated with those beverages. For example, the seller of popcorn might offer the popcorn purchaser a xe2x80x9ccents-offxe2x80x9d coupon that can be redeemed with the purchase of a case of soda, or the seller of peanuts might offer a peanut coupon to the purchaser of a case of beer.
Although this approach provides the beverage purchaser, for example, with an incentive to purchase the snack food, such an approach requires the purchaser to actually retrieve both the beverage and the snack food. The extra effort required to locate the additional item, and then carry it or place it into the shopping cart is often just enough to discourage the purchaser from making the additional purchase. Even if the snack food item is placed in reasonable proximity to the beverage, the consumer can still be dissuaded from buying both the snack food and the beverage by having to pick up and carry more than one item.
Occasionally, the beverage industry offers additional incentives to the purchaser in the form of promotional items (a.k.a. xe2x80x9cpremiumsxe2x80x9d). Such promotional items are typically free items that the seller gives to the buyer in exchange for the purchase of the beverages. Examples of such promotional items can include toys, tee shirts, videos, and the like. Like complementary snack food items, the premiums can be offered in separate packages, making it difficult or undesirable for the purchaser to carry both the multi-pack beverage carton and the premium. The premium could be shrink-wrapped, for example, or otherwise attached to the multi-pack beverage carton, but this approach results in an end-product that is difficult to mass-produce, palletize, store, transport, market, and display in large quantities because of its generally odd overall shape. That is, it is difficult to stack a large number of such packages because gaps between adjacent packages cause instability in the stack.
It would be advantageous, therefore, to manufacturers, bottlers, and merchandisers of multi-pack beverage cartons if products and methods were available that entice the consumer to purchase multi-pack cartons of beverage containers in combination with complementary items such as snack foods and promotional items, without requiring the consumer to select and carry separate items. Thus, there is a need in the art for apparatus and methods for packaging and distributing combinations of multi-pack beverage cartons and complementary containers.
The present invention satisfies these needs in the art by providing apparatus and methods for packaging and distributing combinations of multi-pack beverage cartons and complementary containers. A combined package according to the invention includes a multi-pack carton containing a plurality of beverage containers, combined in mutual abutment with one or more complementary containers. The beverage containers can be cans or bottles, and the multi-pack carton can contain at least six, or preferably twelve, beverage containers. The complementary containers can include a snack food, a promotional item, or any other such item that would entice a consumer to purchase the multi-pack beverage carton in combination with the complementary container.
A packaging material, which can be a transparent, polymeric, packaging material, such as shrink-wrap material or a band, at least partially surrounds both the multi-pack carton and the complementary container, thus holding the multi-pack carton and the container in mutual abutment. The combined package can also include an adhesive between the multi-pack carton and the container that holds a face of the multi-pack carton and a face of the container in mutual abutment. To increase package strength and to facilitate palletizing the combined packages, the surface areas of the faces can be approximately the same, and the combined package can have an overall shape that is generally rectanguloidal.
Apparatus according to the invention for manufacturing a combined package can include a conveyance system, and a packaging material applicator, such as a band applicator or shrink-wrap applicator. The conveyance system transports the multi-pack carton and the complementary container while they are positioned adjacent to one another. The applicator at least partially surrounds both the multi-pack carton and the complementary container with a packaging material that holds them in mutual abutment by applying the packaging material to both the multi-pack carton and the complementary container while they are positioned adjacent to one another. The applicator can include a heat source that shrinks the packaging material or fuses loose ends of the band material together to hold the multi-pack carton and the complementary container in combination.
The apparatus can also include a first conveyor that transports the multi-pack carton and provides the multi-pack carton to the conveyance system, and a second conveyor that transports the complementary container and provides the complementary container to the conveyance system. The first conveyor and the second conveyor meet at a junction adapted to position the multi-pack carton and the complementary container adjacent to one another. An adhesive sprayer can be used to apply an adhesive to at least one of the multi-pack carton and the complementary container to hold the multi-pack carton and the complementary container in mutual abutment.